AFP: Iran’s conservative-held parliament has decided to investigate the activities of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, one of the few institutions still run by reformers, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday. According to the report, deputies in the parliament’s culture committee … Iran parliament launches probe into reformist culture ministry
AFP: Iran’s conservative-held parliament has decided to investigate the activities of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, one of the few institutions still run by reformers, the official news agency IRNA reported Monday. According to the report, deputies in the parliament’s culture committee … Iran government voices concern over journalist ‘confessions’
AFP: Iran’s reformist government admitted Monday that it was concerned over how the hardline judiciary managed to exact written apologies and confessions from several detained dissident journalists. “People making statements that go against their convictions cannot win the confidence of public opinion and raise questions,” government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told journalists. Former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announces bid for presidency
AFP: The former head of Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezai, announced on Monday that he will stand in presidential elections scheduled for mid-2005. “People need candidates who are efficient as well as politically serious,” Rezai told a news conference, adding that he had “clear plans for management and solving people’s problems.” Tension rises as Iran is accused of trying to rig Iraq poll
Sunday Times: Claims of an Iranian plot to manipulate forthcoming elections in neighbouring Iraq have complicated plans for next months polls and heightened tension between the Sunni and Shiite factions in Baghdad. Scrutiny of Tehrans role in allegedly attempting to influence the Iraqi poll has risen after a claim by King Abdullah of Jordan that more than 1m Iranians have crossed their 900-mile long border with Iraq. WTO Agrees Entry Talks with Iraq, U.S. Blocks Iran
Reuters:The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed Monday to begin accession talks with Iraq and Afghanistan, but the United States again blocked any such negotiations with Iran, diplomats said. The go-ahead for Iraq and Afghanistan came with no dissenting voice among the trade body’s 148 member states, but Washington said it was still studying Iran’s request — the same answer it has given for the past three years. British FM presses Iran to respect nuclear freeze, Iran says research exempt
AFP: Iran must respect the spirit as well as the letter of an agreed nuclear fuel cycle freeze, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said ahead of EU-Iran talks Monday on confidence measures to show Tehran is not making atomic weapons. But Tehran hinted it was ready to reintroduce a demand, already refused by the European Union, for some nuclear equipment to be exempted from the freeze. IAEA Leader’s Phone Tapped
Washington Post: The Bush administration has dozens of intercepts of Mohamed ElBaradei’s phone calls with Iranian diplomats and is scrutinizing them in search of ammunition to oust him as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to three U.S. government officials. EU and Iran begin difficult talks on nuclear program
AFP: The European Union and Iran begin talks Mondaytowards giving Tehran trade, technology and security rewards for suspending crucial nuclear activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons. The process is fraught with difficulties since Iran says its suspension of uranium enrichment, a key step in making nuclear fuel, is a temporary measure designed to show its intentions are peaceful while EU negotiators …
Iran is not imminent nuclear threat: ElBaradei
AFP: Iran’s nuclear programme does not constitute an immediate threat, the head of the UN atomic watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in an interview published here on Sunday. Iranian customs officers arrested over smuggling
AFP: Iran’s judiciary has arrested 18 people, most of them customs officials, for involvement in a smuggling racket that brought in millions of dollars of televisions, DVD players and hi-fi systems, the state news agency IRNA said Sunday. 